Those who work in education aren鈥檛 exactly sleeping soundly these days.
There are a host of challenges facing K-12 schools that can keep educators awake at night鈥攂ut what, exactly, they are losing sleep over varies a lot based on their job titles.
The EdWeek Research Center recently asked a nationally representative group of teachers, principals, and district leaders to share their thoughts on this question: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the one thing that鈥檚 work-related that is keeping you up at night right now?鈥�
From there, the research center categorized their answers and ranked the 10 most common responses for each of the three groups.
The results give insights into how common trends and challenges in education this year are affecting educators differently. For example, several issues, such as politics and student behavior and discipline, weighed much more heavily on teachers than school and district leaders.
You can read about the top worries of teachers, principals, and district leaders and see how those concerns rank in this series of articles:
- The Top 10 Things That Keep Teachers Up at Night
- The Top 10 Things That Keep Principals Up at Night
- The Top 10 Things That Keep District Leaders Up at Night
District leaders were more likely than principals and teachers to say that the divisive political climate, including state and national politics, was a top concern. A North Carolina superintendent wrote that the No. 1 concern is the 鈥渧ilification of public education and a clear message that it will be dismantled unless we change course.鈥�
Meanwhile, issues related to student behavior and discipline were far more likely to be the problem most likely keeping teachers up at night compared with district leaders. Twenty-one percent of teachers said this was a top stressor for them, compared with 16 percent of principals, and 9 percent of district leaders.
鈥淪tudent social and mental health issues are destroying the classroom,鈥� said a middle school special education teacher in California. 鈥淭hey act like they do not know how to behave鈥攏o manners or empathy. ... I lose sleep over the future of our nation.鈥�
The following chart compares the percentages of teachers, principals, and district leaders who indicated a particular challenge was the one most keeping them up at night.
The largest discrepancy among educators was in the area of school funding, resources, and staffing: 33 percent of district leaders and 27 percent of principals said this is the No.1 reason they lose sleep at night, compared with 7 percent of teachers.
鈥淲ith the way politics are going, it is getting harder and harder to staff classrooms with qualified educators,鈥� said an elementary principal from Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, 鈥渁ll of the new laws that are being passed and no way to fund them鈥� is what keeps an elementary principal in Utah awake at night.
However, there were areas of alignment among the three groups. For example, they seem to be on the same page that they do not worry too much about curriculum and standards. That鈥檚 not to say educators aren鈥檛 worried about those things, but few teachers, principals, or district leaders ranked curriculum and standards as the No. 1 issue keeping them up at night.
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center鈥檚 work.
